


the sun will rise and we will try again

by salazarsslytherin



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: (not between brian and freddie), (not brian and freddie), Arguing, Divorce, Established Relationship, Having Mature Conversations (after a fashion), Implied/Referenced Cheating, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24918463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salazarsslytherin/pseuds/salazarsslytherin
Summary: Brian's going through a divorce.  It's not easy for anyone.
Relationships: Brian May/Freddie Mercury
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	the sun will rise and we will try again

**Author's Note:**

> only short but i couldn't stop thinking about this as a situation so i hope you like it!!
> 
> also technically you can't divorce someone for adultery unless they had sex with someone of the 'opposite sex' which is all kinds of fucked up so we're ignoring that that's a law.

Brian’s in a foul mood when he comes home.Freddie can tell by the way he slams the front door and the sound of Brian’s coat getting thrown down on a table rather than hung up nicely in the hallway.

Sighing, he gets up from where he’d been sitting watching a film in the living room, muting the TV on the way out.

He finds Brian pouring a glass of whiskey in the kitchen, so it must’ve been a really bad meeting.

Freddie leans against the doorway and arches his eyebrows when Brian knocks the whole thing back in one go, wincing, before immediately pouring another two fingers.

“That stuff’s expensive, you know, darling,” Freddie tells him. 

“I’ll buy you more,” Brian says, throat dry.From the drink or from talking all afternoon, Freddie doesn’t know.

“You’d better.”Freddie gives it a few moments, lets Brian set his hip against a counter and drop his shoulders before he asks: “What happened?”

Brian purses his lips.“She’s not going to let me just walk away from this,” he says eventually.“They’ve—they’ve brought you into it.”

Freddie feels himself go cold.“ _What_?”

Brian knocks what’s left of the second glass back.“If I don’t concede as-is they’ve said they’re going to re-file, this time for adultery, with you as a co-respondent.”

Freddie takes a long, long moment to absorb that.“That _bitch_ ,” he says.“What the fuck does she _want_?”

Brian gives a nasty laugh.“What _doesn’t_ she want?”

“ _What_?What _is_ it, Brian?Is it money?Fucking—I don’t _care_ , _give it to her_!” Freddie hisses at him.“For _fuck_ sake!” 

Brian’s been secretive about so much of this, attended the meetings alone, gone off to another room to take phone calls.Won’t tell Freddie the details because he says there’s no point weighing him down with it all as well, which means Freddie knows next to nothing about what’s going on and just gets to deal with the _shit_ that is Brian after each one of these lovely little lawyer meetings.And now this.

“It’s not about the money,” Brian snaps at him.“This is—she’s being completely fucking unreasonable, I’m not going to let her—”

“I don’t _care_ how unreasonable she’s being!” Freddie cuts him off, louder than he means to. 

“Well _I_ care!” Brian shouts back at him.

Freddie clenches his jaw and pulls himself up to his full height, which isn’t very intimidating when Brian still has a good four inches on him, but he has the louder voice and wants every bit of lung capacity for it.“ _Don’t_ you raise your fucking voice at me!” he shouts right back. 

“ _Back off_ , then, Fred!” Brian snaps. 

“I _HAVE_!” Freddie screeches.“Fuck, Brian!Every fucking _day_ I’ve backed off and let you deal with this in your own fucking way and now look!This is what your fucking _stubbornness_ has gotten us—”

“Oh, so this is all _my_ fault?” Brian demands, banging his glass down on the counter so hard it’s a wonder it doesn’t shatter. 

“Well, you _did_ fuck someone else while you were married to her!”

Brian’s mouth drops open.“I fucked _YOU_!” he thunders, loud enough to startle Freddie.“Don’t you _dare_ throw that in my face.”

Freddie knew, even before he’d said it, that it was a step too far but it’s too late now.He’s always been good at pushing Brian’s buttons like that.

“And I don’t remember you complaining at the time,” Brian carries on, angry with Freddie now instead of his soon-to-be-ex wife.

Freddie scoffs.“ _I_ wasn’t the one with a ring on my fucking finger!”

“I don’t remember you complaining about _that_ , either, as long as you were getting yours,” Brian says nastily.

Freddie actually gasps, drawing back.“God you’re such a fucking _wanker_ , Brian,” he says, turning his back.“Drink yourself unconscious and see if I fucking care.Don’t bother coming to bed, though,” he tosses over his shoulder as he stalks out of the kitchen, nearly shaking with rage.How fucking _dare_ he?

Brian doesn’t let him go, though; he follows Freddie into the hall, pulls him around by the waist and catches hold of him.“ _Freddie_ , stop,” he says quickly, and lets his momentum carry him forward into a rough kiss neither of them have enough breath for.“I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No you shouldn’t,” Freddie agrees against his mouth.He has to put a hand behind him to steady himself against the wall. 

“But you were being an asshole, too,” Brian points out, having to pull back so he can breathe for a few seconds.

“Only because you’re being impossible.”

“Stop, let’s stop,” Brian says quickly.“I don’t want to think about any of it right now.Come to bed.”

He sinks his teeth into Freddie’s lower lip and Freddie groans, convinced.They’ve always been better at fucking than fighting, anyway.(And they can fight for hours).

Afterward, while Brian’s hair is still sticking to his neck with sweat and he’s sitting up against the headboard, lazy and relaxed, Freddie gingerly crosses the room to light a cigarette at the window.

He’s naked and beautiful, an ashtray cradled in the palm of his left hand as he juts his hip into the sill and blows smoke out of the room into the gathering night, because he knows Brian hates it. 

“What is it she wants, then?” Freddie asks eventually.

Brian sighs.“We don’t have to talk about this.”

“We do, actually,” Freddie says.“ _My_ name’s in there now, too.We can’t...Brian, if this gets out—”

“I know,” Brian stops him.“Trust me, Fred, I know.Half the fucking battle is getting her to sign an NDA.”

“You don’t think she will?”

Brian scoffs.“Oh, she will.She just wants all but the clothes on my fucking back before she’ll do it.”

“If it’s money she wants just _give it to her_ ,” Freddie tells him.He flicks his cigarette and turns to look at Brian.“We’ve got plenty of it, and we’ll make more.”

Brian arches an eyebrow.“I don’t know if your income alone will support your antiques addiction, Fred,” he says dryly.

“She can’t want _that_ much, surely—”

“She _does_ ,” Brian cuts him off.“Their argument is that we couldn’t have made what we did if she hadn’t given up her own career to stay home with the kids so it’s all joint.”

Freddie just stares.“Fucking hell.But a lot of that isn’t _yours_.It’s _Queen_ , and _I’m_ not divorcing her.Roger’s not, Deaky’s not.She can’t have that.”

“ _My_ share, she can,” Brian replies, tipping his head back and closing his eyes.He’s starting to get a headache, the warm afterglow that he always gets from fucking Freddie swiftly fading.

“Fuck sake.”Freddie almost doesn’t want to ask the next question but he has to.“What about the kids?”

Brian opens his eyes again.“She’s being quite fair on that.So far, anyway.Thank God.”

Freddie lets out his breath.That’s something, at least.“I think you should just give her however much she wants, Bri,” he says quietly, eventually.“Make this go away.It’s been hanging over you for over a _year_ now, it’s getting ridiculous.You’re constantly in an awful mood—”

“Well if you’d stop _nagging_ —”

“ _Exactly_ like that,” Freddie says, gesturing at him.“I’m not _nagging_ , I _want_ our fucking lives back.Is that...don’t you want that, too?”

“Of _course_ I do, Freddie.But it’s not that fucking easy, is it?You know what all the papers are going to say, they’re already fucking saying it, the _last_ thing I want is it to get out that I’ve—”He gestures meaningfully between them.“Look,” he says firmly, sitting up straighter, the covers pooled around his hips.“To have a leg to stand on for adultery they’d need _proof_ of me having had sex with someone else.Witnesses.”

Freddie gapes.“Well there are a few of those!”

Brian rolls his eyes.“I hardly think Roger or John are going to testify against us.It doesn’t affect the money in _any_ way, she’s _only_ doing this to try and scare me and it’s _not_ going to work.”

Freddie pinches the bridge of his nose and stubs out his cigarette.“Darling,” he says, deliberately neutral, “the longer you dig your heels in about this shit, the longer it goes on for.The longer you’re still _married_ to her.”

“I’m _not_ married to her—”

“But you _are_ ,” Freddie snaps.“You _are_ , Brian, technically.You always fucking _have_ been.You might not have that damn ring on but you’re still someone’s _husband_.I...I fucking _hate_ living like that, okay?”

Freddie’s fast falling out of anger and into upset so he turns his back on Brian, staring out of the window while he tries to regain control over his face.

Brian sees right through him and Freddie hears him slip out of bed and his footsteps on the floor behind him until the familiar shape of Brian’s arm winds around his waist and pulls him against his chest.

Freddie feels him kiss the crown of his head and closes his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Brian says unexpectedly.

“A Brian May apology,” Freddie comments, keeping his voice quiet so he won’t sound sad.“Alert the press.”

“I mean it.I didn’t...think of it like that,” Brian admits. 

“I just…” Freddie starts, and has to swallow.“I _hate_ being your...your dirty little secret.”

“That’s _not_ what you are,” Brian says hotly.

“But it _feels_ like it!”

Brian accepts that.“Sorry,” he repeats, gentle again.

Freddie sighs and leans into him, comforted by the solid presence at his back no matter how much they argue.“Why won’t you just give her the money?” he asks quietly.

The arm around him squeezes reassuringly and Freddie feels Brian’s lips in his hair again.

“I will,” he says.“I...you’re right, Fred.Let’s just get it done.Get it over with.”

“And leave it all _behind_ us,” Freddie pleads, turning as Brian loops his other arm around him as well, peering up into his face. 

Brian nods.“Okay.”He’ll settle.He’ll sign.Months and months of vicious arguing, screaming fights down the phone, frosty silences in lawyers offices...all that time, and only now can he see that it’s just not worth it.It’s been wearing them down, slowly destroying them—destroying _all_ of them, and turned something that could have almost been amicable into an all-out war.

And for what?Money?Freddie’s right; they’ll make more.Brian had been so caught up in his determination not to lose the battle, so angry at how it all turned out, how they'd all painted him in the press, that he hadn’t spared a thought for why he was doing it in the first place. 

For _this_ , here.So he and Freddie could be here like this and he wouldn’t be somebody else’s husband.So Freddie wouldn’t always feel like he was in second place, an afterthought.An _affair_.

This hasn’t been that for a long time.

“Okay,” Brian says again, nodding to himself and pressing his lips to Freddie’s forehead.“Listen, Freddie.You’re not…you’re not my dirty little secret, okay?I promise you.I love you.”

Freddie tips his head down onto Brian’s shoulder but it’s too late; Brian’s already seen the tears.

“You’re the love of my fucking life,” Freddie mumbles into his skin. 

“And you’re mine,” Brian tells him firmly, getting a hand under Freddie’s chin so he can make him look at him.“Okay?This is... _this_ is where I want to be.With _you_.Only you.”

“So _be_ here with me,” Freddie says, blinking rapidly.“With _me_.Not on the phone with lawyers all day or arguing with _her_ in some office somewhere.”

“I will,” Brian promises, and means it.He doesn’t know how none of this dawned on him before, how much Freddie hates it all, how much this has been affecting him, affecting their relationship.“I swear, okay?I’ll sign tomorrow.It’ll be done.”

“Okay, darling,” Freddie says, tired of fighting, not quite daring to believe it’ll be as easy as that but _wanting_ to.He squeezes Brian tightly and wishes he never had to let go.

Brian can feel the big, shuddering breath he takes as he lets it all wash through him and holds him close as he breathes it back out, calmer, watching through the window where the sun’s starting to come up on a new day.


End file.
